Fr Kevin Kilgore

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Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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A common practice in Catholic spirituality is the veneration of relics. We believe the human person is a composite of both body and soul. Thus, when someone becomes a Saint, often parts of their body or belongings are kept for believers to venerate.

Relics not only remind us that a particular person lived and died; we also believe that person is now in heaven. Thus, we seek their intercession to aid our own journey to God.

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Perhaps the first example of Catholics venerating a person’s body is that of Saint Peter. 

Immediately after he was crucified upside down in the heart of Rome in the year 64, Christians cut his body off above his ankles and buried him in a cemetery outside the city known as the Vatican hill.

Although Christianity was an outlawed religion, believers secretly returned to the site where Peter lay, seeking his intercession for their journeys.

After the Roman Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity nearly 300 years later, the Vatican hill was levelled, and a church was built on top of that site where Peter’s bones were believed to rest.

Nearly 2,000 years later, under the direction of Pope Pius XII, archeologists took the risk of digging beneath the foundation of Saint Peter’s Basilica, where they discovered a plethora of Christian graffiti pointing all the way to Peter’s bones.

To this day, the main altar – where only the pope celebrates Mass – stands directly above the site where Peter was buried. It remains, in many ways, the heart of Catholic devotion.

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Today we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, our belief that Mary was conceived without the stain of Original Sin.

This unique grace was given to her by God so that, when she bore the Son of God in her womb, she would be the only pure, spotless dwelling place able to welcome the Christ-child.

During her pregnancy, Mary and Jesus became one – not only physically as they shared her body, but also spiritually as her heart meld into his.

If anyone were to be venerated in the Catholic Church – even more than Saint Peter – it would be Mary. 

However, no one has ever claimed to possess a relic of her body. 

This leads to one of two logical conclusions: either Mary didn’t exist… or she was, in fact, assumed body and soul into heaven. 

Traditionally, Catholics believe her assumption took place in Ephesus. And, interestingly, we only have the house where she lived, not her body.

Thus, the only two people to have ever walked this earth without knowing the decay of death are Jesus and Mary, both born without sin.

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Mary teaches us two important lessons.

Unlike her, we are imperfect, capable of sin. Yet our bodies are still temples of the Holy Spirit and should be honored accordingly.

Secondly, we all have a place in heaven. While she received this grace first, she reminds us that every person has a place in the kingdom of God.

Our goal while here on earth is to shape our lives accordingly.

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May Mary’s words, first spoken to the angel Gabriel, also become our own:

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”

Mary, born without sin, pray for us.

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Image credits: (1) National Catholic Register (2) Atlas Obscura (3) One Walk with Jesus

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Gospel: Luke 3: 1-6

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, 
when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, 
and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region
of Ituraea and Trachonitis, 
and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, 
the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert.
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, 
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
    A voice of one crying out in the desert:
    “Prepare the way of the Lord,
        make straight his paths.
    Every valley shall be filled
        and every mountain and hill shall be made low.
    The winding roads shall be made straight,
        and the rough ways made smooth,
    and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

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A few years ago, while I was studying for the priesthood, I travelled with a friend to the Middle East. During our trip, we stayed with a host who was not a Christian. 

One night at dinner, I remember him asking us many questions, from what life in America was like to why we were studying to be Catholic priests. Some of his questions felt like jabs, as if he was trying to find holes in our faith. 

Finally, after an endless round of questions, he delivered what must’ve been his knockout punch:

“How can God become a baby?” he asked incredulously. 

That is, after all, what we celebrate at Christmas.

In Jesus, God became a baby.

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This truth has baffled minds and hearts in every age, from the moment the angel Gabriel told Mary that she’d bear the Son of God in her womb, to the dinner conversation I had a few years ago.

Still, Christianity hinges on this truth: Jesus Christ is not only the Son of God; he is also a real person who lived among us. 

Saint Luke stresses this history in today’s Gospel, listing a litany of rulers who lived at the time of Christ:

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod the tetrarch of Galilee…during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,” he says, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Our faith is neither fable nor myth. It’s deeply rooted in history. Still, it remains the prerogative of each individual to decide what the life of Christ means for them.

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The irony of Christ’s life is the fact that every devout Jew was awaiting the Messiah. They longed for liberation; for freedom; for a king who would save them from their enemies.

Yet none of the religious or political leaders of his day recognized the Lord; in fact, they crucified him!

Only John the Baptist, a lone prophet living in the desert, wearing clothing made of camel’s hair, who fed on locusts and honey, cracked the code.

He understood the real meaning of the prophesies foretold by Isaiah and Baruch.

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Both called for Israel to prepare the way of the Lord; to make straight his paths; to level mountains and raise valleys; to make winding roads straight and rough ways smooth.

Many Jews interpreted these prophesies in a literal way. 

There was a common practice in the ancient world that, prior to a king’s arrival in a particular territory, the locals would smooth and straighten their roads, making the king’s journey as comfortable as possible. 

It was a sign of respect, even adoration.

The Jews who were awaiting a political king of Israel, would’ve taken the prophets’ words to mean that, when their king came, they would have to lower mountains and raise valleys in his honor, making his path to Jerusalem smooth.

But John the Baptist didn’t lift a single stone. He interpreted these prophesies not in a physical, but in a spiritual, sense.

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Christ, their King, was already living among them. God had come to save his people, reuniting them after living in exile for centuries. But his kingdom was not of an earthly nature. No road needed to be paved.

All construction was to take place in the heart. 

The people of Israel needed to remove the inner mountains of pride, valleys of doubt, even idol worship from their midst. Only then could they welcome their king, which is why John cries out in the desert, the place where Israel was first formed:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

It’s a call that echoes throughout the ages. Repent and believe in the Gospel!

But the mountains, valleys, and winding roads that need to be straightened within are unique to each human heart.

As we await the coming of our Savior at Christmas – and at the end of time – what do belief and repentance mean for me? How am I “under construction,” preparing the way of the Lord in my heart?

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“How can God become a baby?” our host asked us.

In order to understand, he needed what every believer does – a humble, contrite heart, where the mountains of pride have been lowered and the valleys of hope have been raised.

For him, and for us all, we pray: Come, Lord Jesus.

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Image credits: (1) The Glory of His Grace (2) How Did God Become a Man?, WAJ (3) Bible Art

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Gospel: Matthew 9:27-31

As Jesus passed by, two blind men followed him, crying out,
“Son of David, have pity on us!” 
When he entered the house,
the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them,
“Do you believe that I can do this?” 
“Yes, Lord,” they said to him. 
Then he touched their eyes and said,
“Let it be done for you according to your faith.” 
And their eyes were opened. 
Jesus warned them sternly,
“See that no one knows about this.” 
But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

The Gospel of the Lord.

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John Newton’s hymn, Amazing Grace, may be the most sung and recorded hymn in Christian history. Believers sing from their heart with faith, gratitude, and introspection, as they connect the lyrics to their own lived experience. 

“Amazing grace,” we sing, “how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found. Was blind but now I see.”

Some may be surprised to learn that Newton was a former slave trader, who found his faith in a near-death experience at sea. A particularly strong storm was threatening to swallow Newton’s ship, sending chills down his spine, causing him to cry out to God.

“If you save me,” he said in so many words, “then I will believe.”

Once the storm passed and Newton landed on solid ground, he sang of amazing grace.

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Later, Newton admitted that this “conversion moment” didn’t shake entirely shake the blindness from his eyes or the prejudice from his heart.

It would take several more years before he left the slave trade entirely and worked to end it.

For Newton, as for us all, coming to faith – and basing life-decisions upon it – was a gradual process.

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In today’s Gospel, two blind men are healed by Jesus.

While they receive their physical sight that day, only God knows how long it took for them to see clearly spiritually. While they had enough faith to call Jesus Lord, faith is often lived minute by minute.

It’s easy to believe and to praise God on “solid ground,” when all in life is in order. But it’s much harder to praise him in the middle of a storm.

Where am I on my own faith journey? How clearly do I see?

Do I see Christ present in my neighbor, in the Eucharist, even within myself?

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“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like. I once was lost but now am found. Was blind but now I see.”

May the Lord grant us all eyes of faith, and strengthen us to live accordingly.

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Image credits: (1) Adobe Stock (2) Amazon.com (3) Blind Bartimaeus